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Andrew Burges (Casting Shadows)
Andrew Williamson Burges OAM (22 May 1991 - 15 November 2076) was an Australian politician who served as the nations 33rd Prime Minister, serving for a total of thirty-six years as head of government, and fifty-two years as a member of the Australian Parliament, both records for the positions. Often considered one of the nations most controversial leaders, Burges led Australia through a period of economic growth, strengthened the nation's military, and created the Australian Space and Aeronautics Agency (ASAA). However, he was also considered a despot, dismantling the nation's democracy, rigorously controlling immigration, being accused of creating a "cult of personality" and silencing political opponents through various pieces of legislation. Early life Born to a farming family in 1991 in Cooktown, Queensland, to Amelia Burges (née Gordon) and Leslie Burges as a third child. Andrew's father was a full time member of the Queensland National Party, although he was also a sympathiser of the far-right Australian League of Rights and later on in life, the One Nation party. Early in life, Burges was brought to, and raised in the Lockyer Valley region of south-east Queensland, where he attended the local state schools. Often quoted as an extremely gifted student, he represented his school in a number of inter-school debates, as well as achieving Dux (given to the highest ranking student) in his final year in secondary schooling. In 2010, he attended Griffith university, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Government and International Studies, and attained the highest marks in his graduating year. However, his (in his own words) 'inability to socialise' in a number of settings left him unemployed, and out of desperation, began offering his services to a number of right and far-right wing organisations. Early political career In 2014, following a year of subsistence work for the Queensland branch of the One Nation party, he joined the disintegrating white nationalist political party, the Australia First Party, led by Jim Saleam. Adopting the many ideological ideals of the party, Burges quickly befriended 59 year old party leader, who in turn became a mentor to the inexperienced Burges. Under Saleam, Burges became noticeably more open, public speaking skills becoming more persuasive, ultimately climbing up the party ladder to become deputy under Saleam. As a result of his skills in regards to administration as well as his highly praised persuasive speaking, he managed to temporarly improve the declining party's prospects. In 2018 however, Australia First was disbanded over fears of federal raids, especially after a number of other government-led incursions into far-right political organizations. For the next three years, Burges and Saleam worked alongside a number of other nationalists with plans to make a move on securing a seat in the House of Representatives. Rallying behind strong anti-immigrant rhetoric in the state of Queensland, both men managed to procure the support of several small businesses, funding and running an independent campaign for the seat of Wright in the 2021 Federal Election. Together both Burges and his wife, Jaylene, served as their campaigns supervisors as they successfully mobilized the right-wing voters in the division to ensure the two-party preferred vote swung towards their nominee Saleam, successfully avoiding a court case by the incumbent Liberal National representative, Scott Buchholz, to finalize his place in parliament. 2024 election Shortly after the 2021 election, Burges helped form a loose orginisation of several far right representatives (including Saleam), headed by the influential businessman Carlton Hughes. Together, they planned the nomination and campaign for the New South Wales seat of Cowper, headed at the time by the Liberal National representative Luke Hartsuyker. By the time of the campaign season for the 2024 election, Burges had been accepted by the Hughes-led organisation as the nominee for the Cowper region. Running on a policy of strict nationalistic and and protectionist policies, Burges found strong support in the rural division which he was running in, especially following the unpopular High Court decision to ban government imposed mandatory detention for immigrants in 2022, a movement Burges was incredibly critical of. Only shortly after his announcement of candidacy in late-2023, his popularity in Cowper was beginning to be noticed, his 'stump speeches' turning an almost impossible challenge of winning the representative seat into something far more manageable. Early into his independent campaign, both Burges and his wife were invited onto the talk show Q&A to discuss immigration and accusations of racism by the Hughes-led independent nominees. During the broadcast, Burges read out a pre-written speech regarding immigration, stating that it is a "vile beast that needs to be tamed or put down" and that immigrants themselves were "draining the cultural and historical value of this land". Despite strong backlash nationwide in regards to them, especially across several social media networks, Burge's popularity saw a noticeable rise in the Cowper division following the statements, jumping ahead of the Labor nominee William Cayden in the polls only two months before the election. 'Return home' incident In the week before the election, private conversations between Burges and Hughes were leaked to several news sources in the Cowper region, with several lines of dialogue focused on by all other parties running for the division. One particular line caught nation wide attention, an alleged text message sent from Burges to all members of the nationalist organisation stating; "...if these bastards don't return home to where they came from peacefully, I'm afraid we'll just have to strap bombs to their back and send them back the immigrant way." Although he neither denied or accepted ever sending the messages during the campaign season (nor were they ever confirmed to be his), his standings in the polls took a noticeable hit, his lead over Luke Hartsuyker and William Cayden dropping to the point in which they could no longer be separated. Despite this however, Burges remained undeterred by the claims and continued to publicly push for election until polling night, where he lost the preference votes by a slim margin of 300 behind the incumbent, but succeeded in attaining the majority of two-party preferred votes; Burges' 50.37% to Hartsuyker's 49.63%. Parliamentary career Following his swearing into Parliament on 12 September 2024, Burges wasted little time mobilizing the right/far-right nationalists within parliament behind his long time friend and colleague Jim Saleam in what would ultimately become the first iteration of the Nationalist Party. Following his maiden address before parliament regarding Prime Minister Tony Burke's economic policy, advocating for a third way economic model to be introduced, Burges received a five minute ovation from fifty members of the House of Representatives, including those from the larger parties. His stirring live speeches also garnered attention early in his career, especially those regarding immigration and racial nationalism which found wide audiences, early blow back against the representative coming in the form of comparisons to a young Adolf Hitler in 2026 by the popular radio talk show, 'Two Bays FM'. Republican debate Winning reelection by a small margin in 2027, Burges was one of the prime movers within Parliament during his second term to push for a fully independent Australian republic, arguing early on for the complete separation of the nation from the commonwealth. As a stout republican since the beginning of his political career, Burges was one of the only members of parliament to rally his constituency behind a parliamentary elected president during the referendum for the republican models in 2029, ultimately continuing to fight for the break from monarchy even after the decision by Australians to have a popularly elected leader. During the 2030 republican referendum, Burges, Saleam and Hughes were the primary parliamentary organizers of the campaign for a republic during the year. During the push for the YES vote, all three men went on a national live speaking tour in which over 500 orations were made, Burges' persuasive skills winning over crowds of thousands during the five-hundred day campaign. By the date of both the federal election and referendum, he had turned around a 10% deficit in the republican polls into a 5% lead, as well as polling a secure 63.83% majority of votes in the Cowper division. Following the announcement of the republican's victory the following morning, Burges issued a statement which read; "Australia has won a victory for democracy", the last three words becoming the title of his 2035 autobiographical manifesto, Victory for Democracy Nationalist leader Following gains in the 2030 and 2033 elections, the 'Third Block' coalition of far-right independent representatives coalesced into the Australian Nationalist Party (ANP), organised into a de facto triumvirate led by Andrew Burges, Carlton Hughes and Jim Saleam. Following the close ballot for the official leadership of the party (in which only Hughes and Saleam ran, the latter man winning by two votes), a deal was struck between Hughes and Burges in regards to the position of deputy leader. It was decided that Burges would be the official deputy leader within the ANP (to draw younger voters), but Hughes would ultimately ascend to the position of leadership in the event of Saleam's death or resignation. As Deputy within the party, Burges found far-reaching popularity in the lead up to the 2036 election, his youth and persuasive speaking being vital in drawing young voters who would otherwise be turned away by the more senior Saleam and Hughes. Following the publishing of his long awaited manifesto in 2035, Burges revealed that the Liberal National leader Verity Barton attempted to sway him away from the Nationalists and to her party, a claim soon prove by documents and mail sent by Barton's office to the Cowper representative which would later harm her party. During the federal election of 2036, Burges demonstrated his persuasive speaking skills and resilience by speaking in over 200 public speeches and debates in the year prior to election night as head of the ANP's Queensland campaign committee, ultimately swaying all rural seats not held by his party towards it. Soon after the election however, personal and political tragedy struck the Burges and the Nationalists after Jim Saleam died at the age of 80 in January 2037. As per the deal struck between the men during the founding of the party, Carlton Hughes ascended to the position of leader of the ANP but soon fell out of grace with several other members of the party in parliament due to his willingness to compromise with the other major parties. As a result, Burges entered into secret talks with the other high ranking party members all of which backed the Cowper representative to push for the leadership of the party, a suggestion he accepted in early-May. Following a failure of a vote of no confidence on May 9, Burges stepped forward as a candidate for a leadership spill, meeting Hughes two days later on May 11 for the balloting. In front of the 66 members of the Nationalist caucus Burges was elected to the leadership of the ANP following only one round, winning 94% (62-to-4 votes) of his party's high ranking members. In the lead up to the next federal election, Burges decided to deviate from the more open economic ideals esposed by those caucus members that elected him to pursue his own independent protectionist policies. As a result, a motion by the left-wing of the party tried to remove him from the leadership just before new year 2038, failing by a wide margin, Burges using his new found strength to force members of the Left Nationalists to resign from the caucus. From then on, he essentially ruled the ANP with full support from the party's internal organs. For the campaign for 2038, Burges persued a strong anti-immigration and pro-protectionist policy, using the recently hit depression as a backboard to win over voter. With a strong wave of populist and conservative support, he fought against both the incumbent Labor and opposition Liberal National governments for full control over parliament. Leading the polls for much of election season, Burges and the Nationalist fell back behind the LNP one month before election night, several of their nominees coming under fire for a series of homophobic slurs and statements. As a result, the ANP had to reign voters back in by ensuring that the protection of LGBT marriage would become official party policy for the indefinite future, regaining lost ground before finishing the election with the second highest two-party-preferred vote, as well a hung level number of seats with the Verity Barton-led Liberal Nationals. Ultimately, Barton managed to sway enough independents towards her LNP to gain a 'hung majority', winning government whilst forcing the Nationalists into opposition with Burges as the opposition leader. Opposition leader Prime Minister Domestic policies Later life and death Personal life Honors Controversies Category:Politicians (Casting Shadows)